The Trial: A New Translation Based on the Restored Text (The Schocken Kafka Library) by Franz Kafka (PDF)

Description

A brilliant translation of one of the most important novels of the twentiety century, revealing a tale that is as full of energy and power as it was when it was first written.Written in 1914, The Trial is the terrifying tale of Josef K., a respectable bank officer who is suddenly and inexplicably arrested and must defend himself against a charge about which he can get no information. Whether read as an existential tale, a parable, or a prophecy of the excesses of modern bureaucracy wedded to the madness of totalitarianism, Kafka’s nightmare has resonated with chilling truth for generations of readers. This new edition is based upon the work of an international team of experts who have restored the text, the sequence of chapters, and their division to create a version that is as close as possible to the way the author left it.

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐This is literally my favorite book of all time. I orginally read it in German, it’s interesting the way it’s translated. It’s incredible for just the simple reason that you can completely shuffle the chapters, and the narrative remains completely intact. Also, it was revolutionary in its way of describing bureaucracy. The book arrived on time, and in perfect condition. Would absolutely recommend to any serious reader.

⭐It’s well known that WWI begot the Lost Generation. Having seen their Romantic hopes pierced by the machine guns of the trenches, Westerners naturally turned to a more hedonistic approach to life.And yet, humanity would plunge even further into the depths. WWII Germany was so barbaric, so satanic in pursuing the destruction of whole peoples, that survivors of the conflict had a very different reaction than their forebears.It is precisely in this period that Kafka’s The Trial gained popularity in the West. Written in 1914 it tells of a man arrested, tried and executed who has no idea of what he is charged with. The courts run according to all the precepts of reason and modern bureaucracy with the single exception that the protagonist is innocent and the trial is absurd.Kafka somehow was able to prophesy this proto-existentialist phenomena. The Trial bears the marks of what would become the Nazi state: all the parts of modern civilization are there but they are directed in an effort so unfathomably savage that the only response is to proclaim the world absurd.More than any other pre-WWII author, Kafka describes this world and one of its principle responses in such verisimilitude that you are hard pressed to imagine how it could have been written in 1914. One of the great novels of the twentieth century, one of the great novels of all time, The Trial is a work you should read at least once in your life. For all of us thrown into the labyrinthine modern world the Trial is a light that, while it may not show the exit, at least illuminates the tortuous path.

⭐The futility of K’s “trial” is set from the beginning. It makes what happens from then till the end, although rooted in realism, so absurdly surreal. It’s so very darkly comical that I found it equal parts horrific, and hilarious. I think this book pairs well with The Castle as a good entry point to people looking for books that take a look at how social anxieties were being explored in fiction around the time of the Wiemar Republic. I think it can give insight to the same anxieties people have today.

⭐Fascinating twisted story of a bank executive that gets accused of a crime……..but what crime? I now can understand where the term Kafkaesque originates.

⭐This is a fresher, more readable translation that in my older edition. The novel itself is a parable on life, and not a very positive picture. But all the absurdity is there, although it is presented by Kafka as if none of the characters recognize that. Our justice system in reality is not so opaque, but some of its more extreme preposterousness does rear its head here. One of the most important novels ever penned, I think.

⭐Some say Kafka is the best author of the twentieth century. I agree with that. For someone to express that kind of suffering, of the kind he is talking about, they would have had to experience it. And I think that only the people who had also experienced that cruel, back stabbing,sly, deliberateness, leaving the victim in limbo but certain of a dark end, even know what he is describing. .His expose’ on just how much evil people can visit on another has a depth no one could ever express. But Franz Joseph Kafka comes so very close to doing just that..

⭐Kafkaesque: Impenetrably oppresive or nightmarish, as in the fiction of Franz Kafka.Indeed, “The Trial” is the epitome of this adjective used to describe the haunting novels of Franz Kafka.Breon Mitchell’s translation is fantastic as it expands and clarifies the first version by the Muirs. A lengthy translators preface is included, written by Mitchell, explaining the reasoning for this new translation based on the German definitive edition. Various examples of the text (in German) are also used in the explanations of the hows and whys.On to the story itself. Josef K. awakens one more to find that he’s been arrested. He doesn’t know why and is never told. His daily life is allowed to go on over the course of the year the novel takes place, while trying to understand what is happening. Throughout this process Josef begins to sink further into paranoia and guilt, with the fate of his life in the balance….This is a deep and dense novel, with various interpretations. It’s scary to realize that this could actually happen (perhaps not on this scale) and that’s one of things Kafka excels at. Taking the everyday mundane and catapulting it into the realm of the absurd and nightmarish..The leftover fragments of “The Trial” are also included after the story, adding further insight into this tragic story. It’s also worth it to pick up the Muir’s translation, to see the differences, and to have the original english version to keep.A must read.

⭐This is one of the great, very influential narratives of 20th Century Western literature. Read it many times.Existential anxt may have come and gone. But Kafka’s imagery lives on.This is one instance where asking if the writing is poor or great is meaningless.Is there violence? If bang bang your dead violence: No. If deeply alienating psychic violence: Yes in aces and spades.Is there sexual content? Soft porn bodice ripper? No – Existential torment imagery? YesHow is it narrated? From inside a deep echo chamber by a psychic spider trapped in a glass jar with smooth sides.

⭐Only complaint being, not to read the author’s note at the beginning of the book, as this can spoil the ending!!!

⭐Wanted a hardcover of The Trial and was delighted to find one in print and available. But there should be a big red warning sign that this Simon & Brown verison is (or at least appears to be) one of those trash books published based on an online scanned text, like from Gutenberg or archive.org. Formatting is non-existent, every page just one big block of text, with minimal whitespace. Darn close to unreadable. I wouldn’t be surprised if it is rife with typos, too, as many of these scanned texts are, though I refuse to read it and find out. This one’s on its way to the library drop-off.

⭐Fue un regalo.Like it

⭐Very good translation by Breon Mitchell. The product is exactly like what’s portrayed here. They could have improved the quality of the binding. Thanks Bookswagon.

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